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slowworm

[sloh-wurm]
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noun
  1. blindworm(def 2).
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Origin of slowworm

before 900; slow + worm; replacing Middle English slowerm, slowurme, Old English slāwerm, slāwyrm, equivalent to slā- (compare dialectal Swedish slo, Norwegian slō slowworm) + wyrm worm
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for slowworm

Historical Examples

  • They are wrong; and they must be told that they are wrong, and scolded if they kill a slowworm.

    Madam How and Lady Why

    Charles Kingsley

  • But the blindworm, or slowworm, as this creature is called, is perfectly harmless.

  • A silvery creature like a slowworm came crawling out from among them, slowly crossed the clay floor, and crept into the fire.

    Lilith

    George MacDonald

British Dictionary definitions for slowworm

slowworm

noun
  1. a Eurasian legless lizard, Anguis fragilis, with a brownish-grey snakelike body: family AnguidaeAlso called: blindworm
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012